At least 4,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, the UN says.

However, Mr Assad said the UN was not credible.

Syria blames the violence on "armed criminal gangs".

The US later rejected President Assad's assertions that he did not order the killing of protesters.

"It is just not credible," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"The United States and many, many other nations around the world who have come together to condemn the atrocious violence in Syria perpetrated by the Assad regime know exactly what's happening and who is responsible."

Mr Assad's interview comes a day after the US announced that its ambassador in Syria, Robert Ford, would return to Damascus after he was withdrawn in October because of security concerns.

France's ambassador returned on Monday.

'Big difference'

Responding to questions from veteran presenter Barbara Walters about the brutality of the crackdown, Mr Assad said he did not feel any guilt.

"I did my best to protect the people, so I cannot feel guilty," he said. "You feel sorry for the lives that has [sic] been lost. But you don't feel guilty - when you don't kill people."

"We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," he added.

The security forces were not his, nor did he command them, the Syrian president said.

"There was no command, to kill or to be brutal," he said.

"I don't own them, I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces."

Instead he blamed the violence on criminals, religious extremists and terrorists sympathetic to al-Qaeda, who he said were mingling with peaceful protesters.

He said most ofthose killed were from government supporters, with 1,100 soldiers and police among the dead.

Those members of the security forces who had exceeded their powers had been punished, he said.

"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," he said.

"There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference."

When challenged about reports of house-to-house arrests, including of children, Mr Assad said the sources could not be relied upon.

"We have to be here to see. We don't see this. So we cannot depend on what you hear,"he said.

The United Nations, which has said the Syrian government committed crimes against humanity, was not credible, Mr Assad said.

He described Syria's membership of the UN as "a game we play".

Asked if he feared sharing the fate of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi or ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mr Assad said the only thing he was afraid of was losing the support of his own people.

Assad: Peoples' support saves me from Shah's fate

Syrian president says an "overwhelming majority" of his people are behind him, accuses the West, Arab nations of seeking civil war.

ANKARA - Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published on Thursday that he would have been toppled long ago like the shah of Iran if his people did not support him.

"Everybody was calculating that I would fall in a small amount of time. They all miscalculated," Assad told the Turkish dailyCumhuriyet, which has published excerpts from its interview with the Syrian leader over the past three days.

The Table is Set

The plan to support the opposition and oust Assad has always been to create a "safe zone" near Turkish border and have Turkey's military and ultimately NATO enforce a "no fly zone" and assist the opposition.

With the downing of the Turkish reconnaissance plane and the increased tensions and threats, now the table is set to put the plan in motion.

I couldn't agree more Darius jaan

I only mentioned "our Winston" - as Maggie Thatcher used to say :) - just to say somehin along what you have so informedly stated here. So, as you say, and without being pessimistic, we have got still some way to go.

Thanks.

ps - shall revisit your Princess Ashraf blog and read you latest comment gladly and I also have something interesting to add.

anglophile and Arash jan don't be so sure ...

The Russians will give up on Syria when they can be sure the West will give up on lecturing Iran ...

Don't forget beyond the human drama Politics is a chess game ...

Making the right move doesn't always equate making the good move ...

The Russians are actually using the Syrian conflict as a test of wills with the Obama Administration on the nuclear issue.

The question today is not how many children, men and women will be slaughtered in the process ... They don't give a damn. Their goal is to tell the West: You want us to cooperate ? OK so what will you give us in exchange of our Naval Ports in Syria ?

The Russians and Chinese are already filling up the vaccum in Afghanistan and Pakistan ( the very two countries to whose misery they initially contributed to prior to the US led War on Terror) and Iran will be next ...

That's where Obama and the Europeans will fall for their trap just like Kennedy fell for it during the Bay of Pigs operation when in exchange for a green light for an American Intervention in Cuba the Russians demanded the Americans to pull out their missiles from Turkey ...

Believe me with Sarkozy out Obama's Foreign Policy is at crossroads ...

Barbara Walters regrets trying to help Syrian aide daughter

ABC News' Barbara Walters is expressing regret for attempting to help the daughter of Syria's U.N. ambassador by seeking an internship or college admission for her.

"In retrospect, I realize that this created a conflict and I regret that," Walters said in a statement Tuesday.

After Walters returned to the United States from a December ABC interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, she said, Sheherazad Jaafari contacted her. Jaafari, the daughter of Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, was described in March as a Syrian government press officer in New York.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Walters contacted CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" on the woman's behalf

CNN did not interview or hire Sheherazad Jaafari

Jaafari is the daughter of Syria's U.N. ambassador

Affectionate e-mails from the woman to Syria's president were obtained by CNN